The role of the Police Research Centre in strengthening criminalists’ competencies and securing society

Abstract

Multidimensional expansion of the security from the state towards the individual, human security and human rights, significantly determines the contemporary social role of the police as a security institution.
Adoption of the educational processes, with accent on the need for multidimensional competencies of police professionals, actualizes the question of the educational model and its compatibility with European or Croatian Qualifications Framework.
The effort to change paradigm «research after learning» in «learning through research» tries to influence the creation of academic programs, directing focus and adjustment of the researchers and improve the output competencies of the criminalists. Development of the concept of integration police practice and science associated education contents and researches with practical participation in the police and criminal investigation procedure of security phenomena in real-time.
This paper analyses the need for transformation of high police education trough model integration of police practice, theory and science. The aim is to argue the reasons for the development of the Police Research Centre within Police College resulting in the launch of the strategic program of its development.